Children's Learning Activities: Paper Plate Numbers

Welcome!

This blog is here for you to find fun learning activities to do with your children. We share great ideas we find and love on the Internet, as well as ideas we come up with on our own! We also like to share resources we find helpful.

To find ideas for your child, click on the age range blog label or on the theme/topic you are looking for (on the left side of the page). In each post, we try to list optimal age ranges for the activity, but you must judge for yourself if it is appropriate for your child. When you try an activity out, please comment and let us (and everyone else) know how your child liked it!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Paper Plate Numbers

This is a simple, fun activity to learn and count numbers. I got this idea out of the Toddler's Busy Book on page 196.

AGE RANGE

Two and up. Some children between 18-24 months might be able to use this. Even once this activity is too simple for your child, you could use the plates for addition activities.

SUPPLIES

Paper plates
Markers
Stickers

PREP

Decide how many numbers you want to do. You need two plates for each number. I did six, so I had 12 plates.
On half of the plates, write the number on the plate along with the correct number of stickers. So on three, you would write the number 3, possibly spell out three, and put three stickers.
On the other half of the plates, put only stickers. I had mine match each other. So on my plate three, I have Winnie the Pooh stickers on each number three plate. If you are wanting to do this for an older child (preschooler age or knows numbers well), you could do different stickers. You could also do just the number on one plate with no stickers and stickers on the other plate.

ACTIVITY

Spread the plates out.
Have your child find matches. Exactly how you go about this will depend on your child's familiarity with numbers. You might say, "Find the number two plate" and have your child find it and then ask your child to find the match. You might point to one plate, tell your child what number it is, count the stickers, and ask your child to find the match. You might point to the plate and ask your child what number it is. "That's right! That is the number four. Can you find the other number four plate?" There are many possibilities. I vary it based on age and ability. No matter what the age and ability, though, I have the child count the stickers on the plate.